Microsoft Working On New Music And Video Service Dubbed Ventura

Microsoft’s answer to iTunes and the iPod was the Zune and the company wanted to push the idea of sharing the music you liked with your friends. If you were in the same vicinity you could send each other music, or even listen to the same song at the same time. The service never got enough traction and the Zune couldn’t sell enough units. But it looks like Microsoft is taking another stab at a music service with something called Ventura.

A job posting was discovered by Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet by Microsoft for the Ventura Media Services team looking for developers for a set of services “revolving around music/video discovery and consumption.” The project is being developed under Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices unit, which manages the Xbox and the Zune. The service reportedly will incorporate ratings, recommendations, and comments from users.

Ventura looks like it could be web-based service much like Pandora. The recommendations and ratings could give users music and videos based on their choices or what their friends might be listening too. In 2000 Microsoft bought MongoMusic for $65 million, which was building a engine for music recommendations like Pandora. Nothing really came of the technology, but we know Microsoft has the capability. The Ventura service probably won’t make it to the Zune, but could make it onto Windows Media Player, Windows Phone 7, or Xbox Live in the future.